Urgently needed - a striker
So the Harry honeymoon period is over. One league win in six is relegation battle form and that is exactly what we are in. Redknapp has never aimed for anything but survival and the manager expects the maintenance of our Premier League status to depend on the recruitment of some attacking talent.
Goals are clearly what we are short of. The goalkeeping and defending elements have gradually fallen into place, but Spurs remain lacking in the creativity and finishing departments, although we could have the best finishers in the world and still not score goals if the supply is non-existent.
We should perhaps therefore be thinking of buying a creative midfielder, but surely we have that in Luka Modric; Aaron Lennon provides the pace and Tom Huddlestone is the string-puller from deep. David Bentley should be providing ammunition from wide positions.
Tottenham have failed to score in four of the last six matches and have scored only seven first half goals all season. White Hart Lane has gone from the division’s goal-crazy venue to the place for a Saturday afternoon nap – home fans have seen 14 goals in 10 matches this term; at the same stage last season the tally was 51.
Such a pronounced turnaround proves how influential Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane were. The midfield has actually been improved upon, but we are now shorter of attacking ideas. They were link-up players as well as finishers, able to drop deep as well as playing on the last defender and were a genuine strike partnership.
This is the clue in answering the problem of what sort of striker we need. Both are fantastic players whose talent will not be able to be matched, whoever comes in, but Redknapp at least knows what sort of the players the team is missing.
Jermain Defoe would certainly improve the team, but only because he is a better finisher than both Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent. Emile Heskey provides the target-man qualities Berbatov did, but not the guile and Craig Bellamy would add much-needed pace but little creativity.
It is revealing that the strikers we are linked with are proven Premier League performers. Relegation battles do not allow new signings time to settle in and whilst Spurs are not in the same trouble West Ham were in 1997/98, Redknapp must hope that which ever strikers he brings in have the same effect that John Hartson and Paul Kitson did in helping the Hammers avoid the drop that season.
Written by Philip Oliver, a Tottenham Hotspur supporter and professional sports writer who blogs about football betting.
Goals are clearly what we are short of. The goalkeeping and defending elements have gradually fallen into place, but Spurs remain lacking in the creativity and finishing departments, although we could have the best finishers in the world and still not score goals if the supply is non-existent.
We should perhaps therefore be thinking of buying a creative midfielder, but surely we have that in Luka Modric; Aaron Lennon provides the pace and Tom Huddlestone is the string-puller from deep. David Bentley should be providing ammunition from wide positions.
Tottenham have failed to score in four of the last six matches and have scored only seven first half goals all season. White Hart Lane has gone from the division’s goal-crazy venue to the place for a Saturday afternoon nap – home fans have seen 14 goals in 10 matches this term; at the same stage last season the tally was 51.
Such a pronounced turnaround proves how influential Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane were. The midfield has actually been improved upon, but we are now shorter of attacking ideas. They were link-up players as well as finishers, able to drop deep as well as playing on the last defender and were a genuine strike partnership.
This is the clue in answering the problem of what sort of striker we need. Both are fantastic players whose talent will not be able to be matched, whoever comes in, but Redknapp at least knows what sort of the players the team is missing.
Jermain Defoe would certainly improve the team, but only because he is a better finisher than both Roman Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent. Emile Heskey provides the target-man qualities Berbatov did, but not the guile and Craig Bellamy would add much-needed pace but little creativity.
It is revealing that the strikers we are linked with are proven Premier League performers. Relegation battles do not allow new signings time to settle in and whilst Spurs are not in the same trouble West Ham were in 1997/98, Redknapp must hope that which ever strikers he brings in have the same effect that John Hartson and Paul Kitson did in helping the Hammers avoid the drop that season.
Written by Philip Oliver, a Tottenham Hotspur supporter and professional sports writer who blogs about football betting.
3 comments
We need a Brit/Irish lad